COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M is staring a 1-4 Big 12 start square in the face tonight at rival Texas. The Aggies need an upset in a big way if they don’t want to dig too deep a ditch early in their quest for a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament bid.

Second-year A&M coach Mark Turgeon was asked this week if the 14th-ranked Longhorns remind him of anyone this season.

“Texas reminds me of us,” Turgeon said. “They really do.”

Apparently wth a few exceptions.

“I think they’re further along defensively,” Turgeon said. “I think they have a few more gifted players than we do. But they remind me of us.”

Except …

“They play a little faster than what we’ve been playing,” he said. “I think they’re going to hang their hat on defense every night. They have two, three or four guys who are going to try and score.

“They remind me a lot of us, to be quite honest with you.”

Having more gifted players is a recruiting thing — and it’s not yet fair to compare Turgeon’s recruits with those of UT’s Rick Barnes.

Being further along defensively and playing faster is as much a coaching thing as it is a players thing, so Turgeon’s comparison of the Longhorns and Aggies in that regard is an interesting one.

Turgeon occasionally has shown some unusual means in motivating his players – sometimes through the media. For example, his poor man’s comparison this week of his team to Texas – on the heels of a 20-point loss at Kansas.